


Miles to go before I sleep

by Inaka



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, M/M, Melancholy, Pining, Short Chapters, Slow Burn, as much as coming out is a thing in moominvalley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 01:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18907174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inaka/pseuds/Inaka
Summary: You grow together fast, like the branches of neighboring trees.He introduces a calm into your life you have not known before.It comes to you like a long-lost brother, extending its hand and you take it in strange familiarity.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of many firsts  
> My first fanfiction in the Moomin fandom  
> My first fanfiction ever in general  
> My first time writing in english  
> so please be kind because it is not my native language :>

When Snufkin first arrives in Moominvalley he does not bring spring with him.

He comes in late May when the rings of the sun have come closer already and the darkness begins to wear off. The light has made its way back into the small crevices in the rocks at the beach and the caves in the forest and finally covered the whole the valley as if it were a bright blanket.

But the weather had decided to bring back the cold with a force that was unknown this far into the year.

You and the other members of the Moomin family had only hibernated until the end of March so the last weeks have been uneventful and draining and all the nothingness has filled you to the brim with anticipation, so much so that you can feel it like an electric current running down your spine now, making the fine hairs in your tail stand up every time you think about it.

The disruption a stranger brings with them is therefore most welcome.

You can almost feel the whole of moominvalley twitching its ears with the news and it is as if a deep rumble runs through the ground, waking you only now from your long slumber.

Of course the Moomins invite the newcomer in.

And while he seems reluctant while he fiddles with his hat, it takes only a few kind smiles from Moominmamma for him to join the rest of the family in the kitchen. Moominmamma makes tea while he tells from his seemingly endless supply of stories, of raging seas and mighty waterfalls so big their force could wash you away so far, you would arrive in lands no one has ever set foot on before.

Little my and sniff listen attentively for once, even if little my attempts to chase the guest around the house afterwards.

 

When you ask him about himself afterwards he seems reluctant and gives out only sparse information.

 

A vagabond you learn.

Snufkin.

The name tastes like bitter herbal tea on your tongue.

 

Only sweet in the aftertaste.


	2. Up up the snowy mountains

You grow together fast, like the branches of neighboring trees.  
  
He introduces a calm into your life you have not known before. It comes to you like a long-lost brother extending its hand and you take it in strange familiarity.  
  
You have long thought the absence of words and actions to be tedious, but with Snufkin comes a silence that you learn to appreciate.  
So you spend countless afternoons lazing about in the now sun-soaked fields,  
or go fishing in the river that worms its way through the valley.  
  
In a house full of adoptive siblings and a valley with neverending secrets to be discovered one can not stand still for too long though, and so you take Snufkin on adventures.  
  
He asks you to go see the Mountains framing the valley.  
And so the two of you wander up the hill behind the Moomin House.  
From where you can see the mountains in the distance.  
They end in snowy peaks of rock stretching endlessly up and up.  
You point at them and Snufkin looks.  
There is an attentive look on his flushed face. One you can not quite pin down.  
  
  
  
The wind cuts corners around you on this early spring morning and makes your fur look unruly as the two of you sit there and watch the clouds surround the peaks of the mountains.  
  
Out of nothing you begin to feel self-conscious.  
  
Surely someone who has traveled the world has seen much bigger wonders, you think.  
Has seen much greater Lakes  
and higher Mountains.  
Things that fill you with much more than what your small valley has to offer.  
  
You ask him about it, later  
when you have set up the fire and the campsite  
And you both stick so close to it that you traverse between burning yourselves and turning into icicles and you can't quite decide if you are warm or cold or anything in between.  
  
He is quiet for a Minute. You stare at the fire.  
You flip a dead insect you found on the ground in it and the fire makes a small hissing sound in return.  
You have gotten so used to the silence that comes with Snufkin that you wonder why him taking time to answer your questions irks you so.  
There is an itch in your paws and you begin to scratch away at the fine layers of hair around them. Something you have begun doing without really noticing. Your look down at them.  
They are ugly and frayed at the seams you think.  
  
You Look over at your friend.  
He has grabbed a coal from the campfire stash and is turning it slowly between his paws.  
He has a strange way of carrying himself you think.  
The way he touches everything all the time  
The way he is too intense in everything he does  
His stares too long  
There must be something in him  
Something that he carried with him from behind the Mountains.  
Something that you can not place.  
You want to dig deep and deep and deep and find it.  
Make it yours.  
The suddenness of the thought scares you.

  
  
Just as his paws have begun turning from brown to black from the coal he finally says something.  
  
"Moominvalley is a world of its own."  
  
he answers.  
  
"As were many of the places I have visited before on my travels. Self contained if you will.  
When I arrive somewhere,  
I have to get a feel for the world I am in.  
See its extremes and map everything down  
So that I can appreciate it better.  
  
So It does not matter how small the mountain is  
when compared to the biggest on the planet.  
  
It could be the size of an ant.  
It's all the same  
As long as it is biggest in its world. "  
  
he pauses.   
  
"You know what I mean?"  
  
  
You do not.  
  
You say yes anyway, but Snufkin undestands.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued...


End file.
